Historical Studies Archives - Page 5 of 51

The goals and lies of the Polish Left’s smear campaign against John Paul II

March 28, 2023

“A half-truth is worse than a lie and a half.” This Yiddish proverb perfectly describes the dishonest claims that the future Pope St. John Paul II covered up sexual abuse as Archbishop of Krakow (1962-1978), recently made by Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek and the American-owned

Who was St. Polycarp?

February 23, 2023

A few years ago, on Saint Polycarp’s feast day, I attended Mass at a friary for senior Franciscans. During his homily, the priest emphasized that Saint Polycarp was arrested and martyred at age eighty-six and that he was the same age as some of the

The Catholic Origins of Mcdonald’s Filet-o-Fish

February 22, 2023

Lent is a penitential season for Catholics preparing to mark the observance of Christ’s death on the cross, and on Easter his resurrection from the dead. For business owners, Lent is just part of the first financial quarter. For today’s Throwback Thursday, we go back to the

Supreme Failures from the Court

February 1, 2023

It should come as no surprise that many conservative legal thinkers consider Roe v. Wade to be among the worst decisions ever handed down by the Supreme Court. The fiftieth anniversary of Roe is also the first since it was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. But many

Farewell to Luther

January 31, 2023

For many years, I have struggled to understand Martin Luther and his motivations. I am an adult convert to the Catholic Church, one who had no religious faith before I was baptized. A key part of my journey occurred during my time in graduate school, of

The mighty Mississippi was once named ‘River of the Immaculate Conception.’ Here’s why

December 4, 2022

“Immaculate” is not a word most people would use to describe the Mississippi River’s famously muddy waters. But Father Jacques Marquette was not most people. The Jesuit explorer, who came from France as a missionary to Canada in 1666, was one of the first Europeans

The Dereliction of Europe’s Religious Buildings

November 21, 2022

On October 1943, Winston Churchill eloquently expressed the importance of architecture in a speech calling for the reconstruction of the House of Commons, which was bombed in 1941: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” When it comes to religious architecture, this is especially

Newly discovered photos show Nazi Kristallnacht up close

November 9, 2022

Harrowing, previously unseen images from 1938's Kristallnacht pogrom against German and Austrian Jews have surfaced in a photograph collection donated to Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, the organization said Wednesday. One shows a crowd of smiling, well-dressed middle-aged German men and women standing casually as a

Who Burned the Witches (Part 2)

November 2, 2022

Editor’s note: Part One of this essay was published on October 30, 2022. (Editor’s note: A different version of this article ran in CRISIS magazine in October 2001. Witches Everywhere How many people died in the great European witch-hunt? The old claim of nine million burned is flatly

Anne Frank’s friend Hannah Pick-Goslar dies at age 93

November 2, 2022

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Hannah Pick-Goslar, one of Jewish diarist Anne Frank's best friends, has died at age 93, the foundation that runs the Anne Frank House museum said. The Anne Frank Foundation paid tribute to Pick-Goslar, who is mentioned in Anne's world-famous diary about